T Is For Tomatoes

Tomatoes that survive me!

Tomatoes are my orphan crop. There was a season - the summer of 2012 - when I managed to get the crop just right.

The harvest was incredible: we snacked on them, made meals, gave away to friends, family, neighbours and employees.

I froze bags and bags of them, made sauces and gravies and still had enough to sell for weeks on end.

Since then, none of my tomato crops have brought out a decent harvest. Just enough for salads, a meal here and there, and that's it.  I tried different varieties; I planted seedlings instead of trying with seeds..and some of them survive enough to fruit. Barely.

This coming Spring I'm planting my tomato crop in containers and putting them in my kitchen courtyard. Maybe, away from the main garden, with each bush getting special attention, I'll get a better harvest. We'll see. Because while I'm tired of the hassle or trying over and over again, I'm not yet ready to give up on the incredible flavour of a home-grown tomato.

Back when my tomatoes loved me:)

So this post is different in that, it's not a tutorial. Instead, I'm asking for tips and suggestions on how I can successfully grow tomatoes again. I'll give you the basics of what I've been doing so far:

Site selection: The plants are in the main garden, but I haven't been planting them in beds that were previously used for tomatoes. Some of the tomatoes are planted in their own beds, others are planted with basil.

Soil preparation: Clay doctored mostly with manure and some compost. Still a bit heavy though.

Planting process: Seeds in a bed and in some instances, seedlings from nurseries.

Plant care: Make sure you water the roots of the tomato, not the leaves.  I was desperate enogh to feed some crops Seagrow's Organic Plant Food. I've been a number of tomato cages, so so when they are the right size, I cage them to help them stand upright and to allow them to vine.

Problems I've experienced:  Drought (which I couldn't control), scraggly plants, plants that look to be thriving but don't bring out enough tomatoes, plants that bring out tomatoes but they rot while still small and green (I think something was chowing on them!), tomatoes that have a greyish tinge, plant leaves that have a graying ashy tinge.

Harvesting: I harvested the first crop when some tomatoes were ripe and others I picked green and allowed them to ripen in a big flat container in the sun or even on the window sill in my pantry.